The rapid diffusion of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access and the increasing demand for WLAN coverage is driving the installation of a large number of Access Points (AP). The most common WLAN technology is described in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE 802.11 family of industry specifications, such as specifications for IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g and IEEE 802.11a. A number of different 802.11 task groups are involved in developing specifications relating to improvements to the existing 802.11 technology. The IEEE 802.11n task group has developed a High Throughput (HT) draft specification, entitled “Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) specifications: Enhancements for Higher Throughput,” IEEE 802.11n.D0.01, January 2006. The IEEE 802.11v task group has developed a Wireless Network Management draft specification IEEE 802.11v D0.7 Jan. 2007.
In addition, data may be broadcast or multicast from a transmitter station to one or more recipient stations. A problem arises in wireless networks since such broadcast or multicast transmissions are typically unreliable.